Weekly Poker Roundup: July 2, 2017

Partypoker Adjusts Promo Structure After Player Feedback

Responding to customer feedback, partypoker made the rare decision to adjust the structure of its Caribbean Poker Party promotion after it had already been running for a month. The promo began on May 24th, the change was announced Friday, June 23rd, and went into effect Monday, June 26th.

In the Caribbean Poker Party promotion, those who play in Power Series tournaments can earn leader board points for a chance to win a $10,000 prize package to the partypoker MILLIONS Caribbean live event in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. In the original setup, the leader boards were reset daily, with the top ten finishers in each (Low, Medium, High) winning prizes; the first place finisher in the High leader board won the $10,000 prize package.

Players weighed in, though, and because of that, the leader boards are now weekly. On top of that, the top 50 players on each leader board win prizes (mostly satellite tickets for the live tournament package) and players on each leader board will win the big $10,000 prize, not just the winner of the High leader board.

France, Spain, Italy, Portugal to Merge Online Poker Player Pools

ARJEL (L’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne), France’s online gambling regulatory agency, announced that France will be signing an agreement with Spain, Italy, and Portgual for the four countries to finally share online poker player liquidity. For years, each of the countries has ring fenced their players, allowing them to only play on internet poker sites against players from within their same country.

The agreement, to be signed on Thursday, July 6th, “….will set the basis for cooperation between the signing Authorities in this context and will be followed by further necessary steps within each of the jurisdictions involved in order to effectively allow for liquidity poker tables.”

While the player pools will only be shared among the four countries and not the rest of Europe and will probably not be merged until at least some time next year, this is a good step, even if it is several years too late. Poker sites in the four countries have struggled, as being limited to the populations within their own borders is not enough to keep an online poker industry strong. Poker needs player liquidity and at least these countries are finally try to fix a wrong.

Jeff Sessions Recuses Self from Online Gambling Discussion

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions will reportedly recuse himself from any involvement in gambling legislation, including anything related to the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) or legislation like it.

The reason for the recusal has to do with Sessions’ current potential legal troubles regarding the whole Trump administration and Russia election tampering business. Sessions has retained the services of an attorney, one Charles Cooper. Cooper, as it turns out, has worked with Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG).

With legal counsel potential so biased, Sessions had to remove himself from any future gambling talks, as the optics would be terrible. Sessions already said during his AG confirmation hearing, upon questioning from Adelson puppet Senator Lindsey Graham, that he was “shocked” when the Department of Justice said that the Wire Act pertained only to sports betting and that he would be willing to take another look at it.